Regenerative epithelial spike cells instruct immune niche homeostasis in zebrafish fin epidermis

Avil+ spike cells in zebrafish fin epidermis form an apical outward-projecting population that regenerates after amputation and dynamically maintains mpeg1+ immune cell niche homeostasis.

• Why it matters: Epithelial–immune interactions that sustain stable immune cell pools are not well understood, especially how specific epithelial subsets regenerate and regulate local immune niches.
• What they did: The study combined single-cell RNA sequencing with transgenic assays in zebrafish to define avil-marked spike cells, then used fin amputation and Alk-dependent regeneration assays while tracking mpeg1+ immune cells.
• The result: After fin amputation, spike cells are replenished de novo from precursors, change density and orientation, and their regeneration and immune interactions depend on Alk signaling, supporting immune niche dynamics maintenance.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.